Tradition not forgotten

The TRADITION lives on, yes its true we went and cut a Christmas tree this year. Its been 8 years since the last time we cut one so it was a BIG deal. The kids had a blast, and so did we, it was snowing all day so that made it even more fun. We have all agreed that this is something we are going to start doing once again. (can't wait till next year) This year we actually have 2 trees one upstairs and one down. The artificial one is down of course. So now the only question is where are we putting the gifts?! Santa will surprise us all on Christmas morning.

The finished product. We semi-flocked it so it looks frosted. It looks old fashion to me, but what do I know? I like it and thats all that matters right?!

So we did the tree Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night we went to Rachel's dance recital, she was almost last to dance, I think there was 2 dances after her group. She did so good. The only thing is I didn't get a picture of just her.

Update

This is a long post so much has been going on and I haven't taken the time to post it all and I won't post all of it just the highlights. I didn't do to good with my Thankful posts November kind of got really CRAZY with moving and all. I think we are settled now I think (are you ever settled?) Anyway I am Thankful for my wonderful Hubby, what more can I say? He is a great support and help to me, a great dad and a good provider. I am Thankful for my children, they are a good example to me and are great kids, we waited a long time for them and I am truly thankful for them and their sweet spirits. I am Thankful for my Savior, and the sacrifice he made for me. I am Thankful for the gospel. I am Thankful for our new home, it is such a blessing to be in a home once again. Speaking of which here is a picture of the kitchen in the apartment,

and this is my new kitchen, I think it is a GREAT improvement!!! I love it, its so nice to have more room and a large counter top. Can't wait till next week, we are going to make sugar cookies and the kids will be able to help YEA!!!! Lots of FUN!!

This month has been busy as well, it started out with a BANG too. I went to girls night (mom and sisters) on Friday the 4th and well my poor hubby, by mid-night the 3 oldest kids were all sick and throwing up, I felt so bad for him, poor guy. I did chuckle too, how could I not? Needles to say by the time I got home on Saturday everyone was pretty much over the throwing-up part. Oh and girls night was so much fun way to much laughing, it was a much needed outing for me.

On Monday the 7th Jonathan had his first band concert. They did so good. This was the only picture I was able to get. It brought back lot of memories of band and concerts oh fun.

The week was super busy with school, work, no school because of the super COLD, Rachel's dance recital and the Tradition lives on we went and cut a Christmas tree this year so fun I will post more pictures later must get busy and get PJ's done for Christmas. Have a super good day and stay warm! Melody

It feels like Forever!

It feels like forever since I last posted, I know its only been a week or little over a week, but anyway I didn't get all my thankful posting done I'll have to do a quick post about that, but we have moved and its been crazy!!!! Hope to be settled soon. Here is a picture of Rachel in her Birthday dress she wasn't very happy to have her picture taken for some reason, she wanted to do something else I'm sure. Oh and Audrey here are the pictures of the mouse candy cane holder thingy hope it helps give you an idea. ENJOY today, I have more cleaning to do! Melody

Happy Birthday Little Miss

Yesterday was Rachel's 5th birthday I can't believe how time flies. She is the only one of our kids who's birthday falls on a major holiday (I think every 7 years). Her 1st birthday was on Thanksgiving. She was also the easiest baby I had, I was wheeled into the operating room and 15 minutes later there she was, she was wide awake after being born and stayed awake for quite some time. I have a really neat picture of her when she is minutes old with her eyes wide open. She was also the baldest baby I had and poor thing she didn't have much hair until she was 3. She is such a good helper, a little Mommy to Sara, and sometimes a bit of a DRAMA QUEEN, she is a girly girl and LOVES to wear dresses everyday, she is a daddy's girl. She is such a sweetheart and we love her very much.

Daddy and Rachel

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY

Update

I'm still here, its just there is a lot going on right now. We are MOVING!!!! Yes its true, we have found a house and are moving this week so its been CRAZY and going to get worse before it gets better. It also means that I will NOT be going to the black-Friday sales big time BUMMER, but I want to move more so that's okay. The house we are moving to is big (for us anyway) I post some pictures of what we are living in now and what we are moving to. It is going to be so much better for us, the down side is that the house will be for sale come spring, so there is the possibility that in 5 to 6 months we will be moving once again, but in the mean time we will enjoy the house and yard and everything while we have it. I haven't for got my thankful post either, and hope to be updating all my thankful thoughts. There are so many. Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone. Melody

Teachers

Today I am thankful for teachers, not only school teachers, but all teachers who take the time to teach not only children, but all of us. They work hard and put a lot of time and effort into teaching and most of them get paid very little for their hard work or not at all, but where would we be without the good influence of teachers?

Veterans

Today I am thankful for Veterans, those who have sacrificed to keep us free! America is free because of the BRAVE!

8, 9, and 10.

Oh I am behind once again some days its just hard to get here. Any way . . . . . . . I am thankful for the beautiful place I live, I just love it. I love to take rides in the mountains it gives me a sense of calm, I am thankful for a husband that knows this and will take us on rides when I really need it. Sunday was one of those days, I just needed to get out, so we loaded up the kids and went on a little ride. I am thankful for Family Home Evenings, we are not the best at having them, but when we do oh it is so fun and I feel like I have accomplished something.

5, 6, and 7...

Okay I know I am behind, LOTS going on hope to have all the details soon! Are you all in suspense??? Good, then I know you will be checking back to see whats up! HA HA HA.

I have been thinking a lot this week about blessings and things I am thankful for, there are so many.

5. . . I am thankful for my little Rachel, she is so sweet, we were asked to right down some things she was thankful for and this is her list, . . . "my family, my sister, my brothers, my grandma's & grandpa's, my birthday, my bike, my parents, my bed, my clothes, my room, my Tinkerbell & princess dress ups, I am thankful for being able to dance". She came up with everything on her own, no help from me, what a sweetheart I am so thankful that she is part of our family.

6. . .I am thankful for my brother, I only have one, my kids love him, they talk about Uncle Doug and how fun he is, he is great with my kids he is never to busy to talk to them or listen to their funny stories or the way silly jokes, we love him lots!


7 . . .Today I am thankful for rain, yes can you believe it? I love it when it rains, especially when I can hear it on the windows, its peaceful to me besides the fact that it smells so good outside.

Sunshine

Today I am thankful for the sunshine, October up here wasn't really fun with cold snowy days, today was beautiful lots of blue sky and SUNSHINE. I took the girls out to take some pictures of our little miss who will be turning 5 at the end of this month and the sun was shining and it was warm well not like summer, but we didn't need jackets YEAH!!! It was fun playing outside for a change. I am loving this idea it has really made me stop and think about what I am thankful for.

Thankful

I read about this from another blog and I thought it was a good idea and something different to do. So the idea is to write something you are thankful for everyday in November. So as it is already the 3rd I have 3 thankful things today to get me caught up and hopefully say that way.

1- I am thankful for my family, not only my little family, but the extend family we have and all the support and help they give us and have given us we couldn't have got through some things with out the help and support of our WONDERFUL family we love ya lots.

2- I am thankful for good friends, not only my friends, but the good friends that my children have

3- I am thankful for my washing machine I know weird, but I don't have to go to the laundry mat, or to the river to wash cloths and I am truly thankful for that.


So now its your turn, what are you thankful for? Just for fun write what you are thankful for everyday in November, either on your blog or in a note book just for you to see.
I think it will help ME remember the little blessing I have everyday and to be truly thankful for them. As a side note we are doing this for FHE and making a tree on our door and every night we get a leaf and write something we are thankful for. My goal is to help my children realize that they are blessed too and have a lot to be thankful for. Have a good one Melody ;)

Halloween fun

Jared at school in front of the classroom door it was decorated like a bat cave it was really cute.
Jonathan ready for school on Friday
PEACE MAN!

Wow what a busy weekend, I went to Jared's class party at school on Friday, then we went trick-or-treating on Main after school. Thankfully the weather was good, it was cloudy and a little cool,

but no wind. It was fun Jared was a ninja, Rachel was a clown and Sara was a witch I didn't get any pictures of them dang it. Then on Saturday we went to our family party and trick-or-treating. Rachel was going to be a witch but when the boys were looking for costumes for school she saw the clown costume and wanted to be that, but decided to be a witch on Saturday for the party. Jared was a ninja for school he needed something easy to put on over his clothes, but decide Friday night to be a mummy which is what he wanted to be anyway. Hope that all makes sense Jonathan was a hippie for school on Friday and a cloaked masked Jedi on Saturday.

The gang MUMMY (Jared) CLOAKED MASKED JEDI (Jonathan)

BABY WITCH (Sara) WITCH (Rachel)

It's HALLOWEEN Time!

I feel like a TOTAL slacker, I haven't kept up with my blog it's sad! I know your all feeling really bad over it too. HAHAHA! Anyway we have been busy with school, scouts, dance, and of course HUNTING! Its been a fun and busy month. We finally got around to carving pumpkins course you can't carve them too early. The boys carved their own, but I got to carve the girls pumpkins. They did however get the "guts" out of their pumpkins not really sure if they wanted to but they did its too funny watching them and hearing them as the pull them out I should have had the video camera set up but I don't think of those things until after the fact.

The finished products

Why is it so hard to get pictures of all of them looking at the same time?

Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

School Project

Here is Jonathan by his project for school, he did research on the Aztec people and had to present in with pictures and objects. He had a partner to work with, they did a super good job (all the kids did) It was fun to go and see their presentation of their hard work. Good job Jonathan.

Wednesday

I feel as if I have been on vacation. I haven't done hardly ANYTHING for 2 weeks! Why is that? So I am behind on everything, cleaning, laundry, etc. you get the picture. So tonight not only did I scrubbed my kitchen, but clean the boys bathroom well they cleaned their bathroom with my supervision, I don't clean just help when they need or want it which isn't often, but I'm in there to make sure they clean everything. They do a super job, and it doesn't take long so why is it so hard to do? I did more laundry too, now if it would only fold itself wouldn't that be great or maybe just creepy. My to do list for this week got NOTHING checked off I was going to sew a dress for Rachel and make more juice pouch bags, but so far nothing, oh and I also need to make Sara's Halloween costume and make sure everyone has a costume and ready for Halloween. I think we are going to have a party but not sure yet hope so we LOVE the family Halloween party (no pressure Aud). Well this has been a rambling post hope you all enjoy ;) Melody

Family Pictures

Its that time again when I like to take new family pictures, boy what a challenge that was. We went out on Saturday it was a nice day for once, anyway we were able to get only 2. BUMMER between the kids wanting to play in the creek and a hubby who wanted to go hunting (can't really blame him) that was all we were able to take, besides the fact that it was really bad lighting too many shadows, or not enough sunlight. UGH we will have to torment us all again and try later this week. I will post the pictures we took on Saturday later if I can fix them so they look OK. I think they turned out OK its just the light problems. Hopefully the computer program I have can fix them, if not oh well all we can do is keep taking pictures. Melody

It's Time Once Again

Its that time again to start thinking about Halloween costumes. My boys b-days are over and just a couple of weeks till trick-or-treating, not that we are big into it but the kids like to dress up. So I need to find 4 costumes hopefully I have most of the stuff already depending on what they want to dress up as. We do this every year I'll ask the kids what they want to be and it is always something that I have no idea how, where or even what it is they want to be, its always the boys that come up with something really bazaar, why is that? Oh well hopefully it will be something easy or we can agree on something easy, so far Jared has told me about 4 things he wants to be, I am hoping for the mummy that would be super easy, Jonathan doesn't know what and if he is going, the girls just want to be witches, a cute one Sara says so we will see what we come up with. I am getting hooked on facebook, not chatting with people, but playing the games, never thought that would happen weird. Dennie has all next week off YEAH!!!! But I believe he is going to go hunting. I was hoping for well, I don't know but not hunting all week, should be FUN can't wait, its nice to have him home the kids love it and I do too. Melody

Can you Believe it?

Today we have been married for

TWENTY-ONE YEARS!

Can't hardly believe its been that long.

Where has the time gone?

They say that time stands still

when your with the one you love.

Birthday BOY

It was Jonathan's 12 birthday yesterday, he celebrated ALL weekend with the plane ride and then we let him have 1 of his gifts on Saturday too. I can't believe its been 12 years, where has the time gone? But then it seemed like it took forever to get him.

Jonathan Dennie 1 month old

Jonathan 12 years old

Jonathan with his Grandfathers and his dad

It was a special day yesterday for us and especially Jonathan, he was ordained to the priesthood. I thought it was neat that it was done on his birthday besides.

Jonathan with his dad and I

Happy Birthday son we love you very much.

Busy Weekend

Wow we have had a busy weekend, first the boys went on a Airplane ride the airport was doing free rides for kids 8 and up, Dennie thought it would be fun for Jonathan so they went on over, Jared went with his dad, but we told him he wouldn't be able to go on the plane, well they let him go it was so fun. Jared in the plane

Jonathan in the plane

This was the plane they rode in

After the ride they got these certificates

(they were even side by Harrison Ford)

The program has something to do with him, He is the chairman or something.

Birthday BOY

Can you believe it my baby boy is 7! How time flies. He had a little bit of a rough start at first and had to stay in NICU for a few days which was harder on ME than him.

Jared Gordon 1 week old

Jared Gordon 7 years old

His skateboard cake.

My sweet BIRTHDAY BOY!


He had to go out and try his skateboard.

Good thing he did last night cause we have more SNOW today,

As with tradition, the kids get to choose what they want for dinner on their birthday, I thought for sure I would be making lasagna or spaghetti or something like that, I got a SHOCK
when he ask for scallop potatoes and chicken, WHAT this from the kid that wouldn't touch a potato last year. I ask him several times, cause I wanted him to be sure. That is what he wanted he said " that is my very favorite" so that is what he got. The funny thing is we have had scallop potatoes on Monday and then again on Tuesday and then again on Thursday, hope the family doesn't get to tired of them, HA HA HA I think we will take a break from scallop potatoes for a while. Jonathan has informed me he wants baked potatoes and toppings for his birthday dinner, good thing we have LOTS of potatoes!

Nothing in particular

It's Wednesday once again, not much going on. The snow we got on Monday is now mostly gone its still cold, but at least there isn't 3" of snow on the ground. I miss fall, we didn't have a chance to enjoy the fall colors, the warm days and crisp night for very long, I hope it comes back. I am truly sad. I am in no ways ready for WINTER WEATHER and snow and cold etc. We need FALL! But then what can we do? I made a huge effort to get some painting projects done, I have no desire to paint, I would much rather scrap book or sew. Why is that? I have a big tote of unpainted projects to do. I guess I am just going to have to start and see how it goes. Tomorrow is Jared's Birthday he is super excited. He has told me how many days until his birthday since the 1st of October. I think he is EXCITED. Then on Sunday Jonathan turns 12! I can hardly believe it. Time goes so fast. This post has really been about nothing in particular so it is properly named. Our little trip to the dentist last week went GREAT no cavities once again, for the three youngest. Jonathan did however have yet another tooth pulled, poor kid he won't have many teeth left if he doesn't start getting his permanent ones back in soon. The tooth he had pulled had a small cavity and it was a baby tooth and it was next to a permanent tooth and we didn't want to fix a tooth that was going to fall out in a month, so we pulled it. Needless to say he wasn't to happy, I don't blame him but still it needed to be done, and he was OK with it after it was out. He also got a strawberry milkshake out of the deal too. We enjoyed General Conference this last weekend too. But didn't get to go on our annual conference ride, BUMMER I really look forward to that every FALL oh well maybe when and if it warms up we can go on a ride anyway. Must get busy lots to do. Have a GREAT DAY! Melody

October

Hey its finally here, can you believe its OCTOBER? This starts a very busy time of year for us, we have birthdays every week this month with at least 2 birthdays a week some weeks even have 3. Not only that but we have our anniversary too. We LOVE October, not only for the birthdays but its the start of the HOLIDAY season. YEAH!!!!! Busy, busy, busy! The snow yesterday has got me in the mood to start thinking about CHRISTMAS and projects that I want to do and the TON of projects that I still need to do. I have decide that if they are not done by a certain time, I am going to get rid of them. I have only had some of them for oh almost 10 years! I know it pathetic, I either need to paint them, sew them, or chuck them so wish me LUCK cause I am going to need it. Any bets on how much gets given away?? I'll keep ya all posted cause I know your all just waiting to see how much gets done. Melody

September SNOW

Here are a couple of pictures of the snow we got yesterday, these are nothing to what we have now, not that we have a TON of snow but the roof tops are covered and you can't really see the grass. It would snow then rain all day yesterday. Today my house is FREEZING!!! I might have to turn on the heat just to take the chill off, its pretty dang cold in here. Hopefully it will be nice this weekend for our annual drive during conference, we can listen so much better if we are going on a ride, the kids listen better too, they can't escape the van HA HA. Anyway have a good WARM day everyone. We get to visit the dentist today so much fun can hardly wait. Hopefully the girls will cooperate. Melody

Snow in September?!

Yes, its true we have SNOW!! It was only raining this morning and then snow, then rain etc. now it is lightly snowing we did have HUGE flakes not to long ago, I took some pictures, I'll have to post them tomorrow. Any way today we are just inside. It was chilly in the house and I don't want to turn the heaters on yet its WAY to early for that and the kids wanted cookies so I am making yummy pumpkin cookies, nothing gets us in the mood for fall and Halloween like some good old pumpkin cookies. I also have been making more bows, so far I have made a total of 9 Halloween bows here are a couple different ones I made the other day I made 5 more today. Its a fun way to keep busy. Anyway hope you all are staying warm in this CRAZY Idaho weather we are having. Melody